


Body Snatcher

by andtheny



Series: Phantom Pain [10]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Backstory, Complicated Relationships, Dialogue Heavy, Experimental Style, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Monologue, Pitch Pearl if you squint, Possession, Separate Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25587517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andtheny/pseuds/andtheny
Summary: Late night star gazing with Fenton somehow turns into a story telling session.The theme?Phantom possessed Paulina once. And a couple other people.
Series: Phantom Pain [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1383205
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	Body Snatcher

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to kind of expirement a little here. This is basically a monologue on Phantom's part.

_They had the whole night to themselves. Fenton told his parents he was sleeping over at Tucker's and he told Sam and Tuck not to expect him online._

In the early days… well, I spent most of my time invisible, Phantom began. 

_They arranged themselves on the roof at Casper High with a big picnic blanket and sleeping bags. Not that Phantom would be doing any sleeping._

I would just float aimlessly through the halls here at school, you know? Watching my classmates continuing their lives without me. 

_They both kept their eyes tactfully directed at the sky as Phantom spoke, but Fenton was gently running his hands through Phantom's hair. Reassuring little pets. Urging him on._

Sometimes I was watching m-myself, Phantom continued. 

_This was the hard part._

I thought of him as this eerie human double. And I watched him stumble through the school day like a duck stranded in the middle of a frozen lake. 

_Fenton's only reaction to the words was a quiet little sigh._

You just looked so disoriented. Like you didn't belong and you _knew_ it. 

_A humorless chuckle. Phantom stole a glance to read Fenton's expression. The human was smiling ruefully._

I'm sorry. It was hard, especially in those early days, not to feel resentful.

_Fenton shrugged._

So I kept my distance from "Danny Fenton" and from my former best friends. I found myself spying on the A- Listers instead. 

Okay _yeah_ , on Paulina. 

Let's be real dude. What fourteen year old kid _wouldn't_ follow his crush into the girl's locker room, if given the chance? 

_Fenton sputtered and opened his mouth to retort, but Phantom shushed him._

You said you'd let me talk! I'm just getting started. 

Anyway, I didn't mean to possess her. It just sort of happened. I guess I got too close. And it freaked me out, I wasn't used to gravity anymore. She was at cheer practice at the time and they were telling me to do a cartwheel or something. 

_Now Fenton was laughing._

Yeah, I fell flat on my face.

Got out of there real quick and Paulina, well, she seemed kind of dazed? But she was fine. Hadn't even noticed I was there. 

Why'd you stop petting me? 

_Phantom nuzzled his head against Fenton's shoulder. "What are you, a dog?" Fenton said. Without hesitating for a second Phantom barked and Fenton rolled his eyes. "Down boy!"_

_He resumed the petting._

Anyway, after that I went to the mall to experiment. Possessed all sorts of people. Young, old, men, women. The hardest part was carrying on talking to whoever they were with. 

Like if I possess this middle aged man who's shopping with his wife I gotta stick with her and carry her bags, I gotta pretend I know what she's talking about. There was an incident where I didn't know the name of this guy's kids. 

_Phantom had his head on Fenton's lap now and could feel his muscles tensing in reaction to something._

I guess it was kind of like having amnesia for a day. 

_Another glance Fenton's way, but from this angle he couldn't make out Fenton's expression._

I ran into another ghost in the food court. It was the funniest thing! She was like… a lunch lady ghost. This dead old woman who spent her whole life as a lunch lady. 

And she decides to spend her after life possessing other lunch ladies. 

_Fenton nudged Phantom off his lap, much to Phantom's dismay, but it was just so the human could fully lay down himself._

_He allowed Phantom to lay down again with his head on Fenton's stomach._

So it was really uncomfortable to stay inside any given human for longer than ten minutes. Like, you get this skin crawly feeling real quick. I couldn't stand it. I asked the lunch lady ghost if she could feel it too. 

She said she never stays long. She just does what she needs to do and then moves on. 

_Fenton hummed thoughtfully._

Could you guess what it was she felt like she _had_ to do? 

_"No, what?"_

Change the menu! Or rather, change it back. Apparently it pisses her off if any of the food court restaurants try updating their menus. She goes in, all stealthy, and chucks out all the new items. Spends the day serving only the old stuff. 

But it was a losing battle for her. She just couldn't stand that icky human feeling. Just gave up after a while and disappeared. 

_The best thing about laying on Fenton's stomach was getting to ride the little wave, the rise and fall of the human's breath. If Phantom could sleep, he imagined this would lure him under._

I got bored at the mall pretty quickly. Went back to the school and decided to possess Mr. Lancer. 

_Fenton gasped and sat up. "The Harry Potter thing was you?!"_

Well, I had no idea what you guys were actually supposed to be reading. And I'd just finished The Prisoner of Azkaban, so it was on my mind. 

And yeah, I know it was weird of me to like… make you stay after class. Do you remember that conversation? 

_"Vaguely."_

It's the first time we spoke. Before you spotted me haunting your house. Before I started hanging out with Sam. Before anyone knew to call me "Phantom." 

Heck, this was even before that "Inviso-Bill" nickname got around. Not a single human had seen me yet. No one knew I _existed._ And I just… wanted to talk to you. I was curious. 

_Fenton was staring directly at him now._

_"I thought Sam saw you the day of the accident?"_

_Phantom met his eyes and tried to remember to blink at a normal pace._

She did, but I avoided her for a while. But you're right. She knew. She knew, but she couldn't find me. We started hanging out later. I approached her.

_Fenton grimaced and turned his gaze back towards the sky. But they'd basically given up on star gazing._

Anyway, it was hard pretending to be Mr. Lancer. Especially when it was just the two of us. It wasn't fun anymore. But I didn't want to freak you out. 

_"You said you were worried about me."_

I tried to sound like an adult, I guess. Like I wanted to give you a helpful lecture. I was kind of mortified, after the fact. 

Just standing there with my hand on your shoulder, in Mr. Lancer's stupid body. And I was feeling real creeped out. I'd been in his body longer than anyone else's. 

And I stand there and I say "Fenton, I'm sure things have been hard for you since the accident…" 

_"You were surprised I had amnesia," Fenton said. "I thought that was weird 'cause my parents had already told all the teachers about it."_

It was news to _me_. And I was relieved to hear it, by the way. Because it meant I still had something that was just. Just me. 

I think after that I became a little obsessed with you. 

_Fenton raised his eyebrows doubtfully._

Okay a _lot_ obsessed with you. I wanted to know how you were handling my life. How you were reacting to my weird parents, my annoying bully. How you were treating my friends. 

_Phantom reached out without really thinking about it. Like he had so many times before._

Then when you started talking to me I was giddy at the attention. Not just cause a human was finally talking to me, but because _you_ were talking to me. 

_He cupped Fenton's cheek in his hand and the human closed his eyes._

Anyway, wow, we've been out here for a while. You gonna sleep? 

_"Keep talking," Fenton said. "I'll sleep eventually."_

Well, I think you should lay back down. Get in your sleeping bag and stuff. 

_Fenton did so reluctantly._

Okay so… want to hear about the time I accidentally froze a park? Like one of those playgrounds with a slide and a jungle gym.

_Now it was Phantom's turn to pet Fenton. The human closed his eyes and settled down._

There weren't any little kids around, by the way. It was pretty late. Though there were some teenagers, I think they were college age, kinda sitting around and drinking or something. 

_It didn't really matter what he talked about at this point. He just wanted to keep the night going._

They were creeped out and left pretty quickly. Tripping over themselves…

_Phantom talked for another hour or so, rambling on about interactions he'd had with ghosts and humans alike._

_He knew when Fenton was asleep. He'd watched him sleep enough times to recognize the change to his breathing. The peaceful little sound of his breath._

You want me to wake you when the sun starts to rise? Dang, I should have asked while you were up. 

It'll be a really great view from up here, so I'll wake you anyway. Then you can just go back to sleep if you want.

_Fenton almost had a glow about him under the moonlight like this._

We should do this again sometime, Phantom whispered. 

_He settled back to wait for the sun._

I thought about possessing _you_ , once. 

_The admission felt like a dirty secret._

Thought I could just take my life back, like that. 

_Fenton really was solidly asleep at this point, but Phantom kept his voice at a whisper just in case._

I bet it wouldn't feel gross like it does with other humans. I imagine you'll suit me perfectly.

But I feel like that body belongs to you now. It's not my life anymore. And I'm okay with that. Now. 

I think you're a better Danny Fenton than I was anyway. 

_Phantom directed these words at the stars above them._

Or maybe I just had to convince myself of that to live with this. To live with you.

I'll never know for sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit 2/23/2021:
> 
> Wow, so I was originally intending to take a small break from this series and return to it at a later date, but I've ultimately decided to drop it. I still have ideas for the Danny Phantom characters, but I think I'd rather start from scratch when/if I write for this fandom again.
> 
> If you've read the entire Phantom Pain series thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed it despite it's incomplete-ness 😅


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